Uncensored 1997 - the most convoluted set of stipulations

[SirLucas]

The main event is a textbook example of a great idea but poorly executed. I liked the idea of having a Royal Rumble style battle royal but with teams like Wargames.  But WCW took this idea, and made the match stipulations confusing beyond repair. 


Each team had a specific prize upon winning the match. If Team WCW won, all the championships held by the nWo would be stripped and its members would not be allowed to wrestle for three years. If Piper's team had won, he would have gotten a steel cage match against Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at a time and place of his choosing. If the nWo won, they would earn the right to challenge for any WCW championship at any time they wanted.

1. I love how the nWo would have been banned for a specified date. Imagine if WCW won and the nWo was taken off TV for exactly three years. And why three years to begin with? Why not just say the nWo must disband if WCW wins? It didn't matter anyway since the nWo was going over. Imagine if after this PPV, the nWo was simply kept off tv until March 2000.
2. Piper's team didn't win, but he still got the steel cage match with Hogan later that year at Halloween Havoc. Was there any explanation of why the cage match was still on after Piper's team lost?
3. At this team, the nWo already has possession of the World, tag team, and cruiserweight. The only titles the nWo did not hold were the US title held by Eddie Gurrero and the TV title held by Prince Iaukea. In kayfabe is made zero sense for the nWo to risk losing their careers for three years, only to get a shot at two ancillary titles. Plus, after the nWo one of the match, I don't know they followed up on this awarded prize. I checked wikipedia and an nWo member didn't hold the US title until September 1997 when Curt Hennig beat Mongo McMichael. Even then, I don't think the Uncensored award was mentioned for Hennig to get the title shot. If the nwo already held 3 of the 5 title in WCW, why would Hogan and his teammates even needs to win a battle royal if they wanted the US and TV titles so badly?  

[Mozenrath]

Yeah, the stipulation was just too convoluted, and a symptom of the kind of thing WCW, and ECW and WWF to a lesser extent, did to just kill the credibility of stipulations in general for a long while. Fans were trained to either get ridiculously unlikely stipulations, or ramifications that'd be walked back almost instantly.

[RI Richmark]

This match always bugged the hell out of me. Why did the Ric Flair volunteer the Horsemen to help Piper when they probably would have benefited more with the nWo disbanding then Piper getting a title shot?

In fact the Horsemen blew a golden opportunity. All they had to do was double team the nWo with team WCW until they were all eliminated then double cross Piper to ensure WCW's victory instead they fought both teams which lead to the nWo winning.

It's like that quote from Spaceballs' Dark Helmet:"Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."

[SirLucas]

Speaking of things that bugged me, I have not watched this PPV in its entirety since it aired, but was confused why Rick Steiner was taken out of the match. Was he legit injured? Did the nWo jump him in the back? I can't remember. If WCW was a man short, couldn't there have been anybody else willing to step up and help fight for WCW? I guess having WCW enter the match with only 3 guys instead of 4 is another example of the idiot plot in action.

[SirLucas]

Mar 27, 2022 18:28:52 GMT -5 RI Richmark said:

This match always bugged the hell out of me. Why did the Ric Flair volunteer the Horsemen to help Piper when they probably would have benefited more with the nWo disbanding then Piper getting a title shot?

In fact the Horsemen blew a golden opportunity. All they had to do was double team the nWo with team WCW until they were all eliminated then double cross Piper to ensure WCW's victory instead they fought both teams which lead to the nWo winning.

It's like that quote from Spaceballs' Dark Helmet:"Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."

You are spot on! The nWo had nothing to gain, as they were simply playing defense against getting disbanded or having to defend the title against Piper. 

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Yeah, I never got that stipulation as a kid. WCW and Team Piper had obvious goals they were fighting for. The nWo were fighting to... keep doing what they could already do. Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo. Ted DiBiase was their financial backer. What changed by them winning?

And here's the real kicker. AFTER Uncensored, Bischoff was suspended by Dr. Harvey Schiller (and let's not get into THAT right now) and DiBiase left the group over moral issues. If they had done this match after both of those things happened, you could've made it that the nWo was fighting to keep their foothold on the company. It still wouldn't have been great, but it would've been something.

[SirLucas]

I just turned on the PPV and within seconds, Tony Schiavone is hyping the appearance on Dennis Rodman. Rodman coming into the company was a big deal at the time, but his appearance detracted from the match along with the stipulations.

[chronocross]

At least they didn't go with the original Piper team for Uncensored, outside of John Tenta the other 2 guys were nobodies.

As for Piper getting the match with Hogan, he became commissioner in Sept of 97 and made the match for himself at Halloween Havoc if I remember correctly.

[cjh]

Mar 27, 2022 19:08:17 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Yeah, I never got that stipulation as a kid. WCW and Team Piper had obvious goals they were fighting for. The nWo were fighting to... keep doing what they could already do. Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo. Ted DiBiase was their financial backer. What changed by them winning?

And here's the real kicker. AFTER Uncensored, Bischoff was suspended by Dr. Harvey Schiller (and let's not get into THAT right now) and DiBiase left the group over moral issues. If they had done this match after both of those things happened, you could've made it that the nWo was fighting to keep their foothold on the company. It still wouldn't have been great, but it would've been something.

The Bischoff suspension happened on March 3, two weeks before Uncensored.

That whole angle made no sense because it was also said Schiller/Turner could not ban Bischoff from appearing on TV for some reason, plus Bischoff's character was back to having the ability to make matches and fire people by fall 1998 with no mention of how he regained that power.  It was similar to 1999 WWF, where Vince and Shane McMahon supposedly won complete control of the company by beating Steve Austin at King of the Ring, then not long after that, they just ignored it and said Linda and Stephanie still owned 50%.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Mar 27, 2022 19:31:11 GMT -5 cjh said:

Mar 27, 2022 19:08:17 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Yeah, I never got that stipulation as a kid. WCW and Team Piper had obvious goals they were fighting for. The nWo were fighting to... keep doing what they could already do. Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo. Ted DiBiase was their financial backer. What changed by them winning?

And here's the real kicker. AFTER Uncensored, Bischoff was suspended by Dr. Harvey Schiller (and let's not get into THAT right now) and DiBiase left the group over moral issues. If they had done this match after both of those things happened, you could've made it that the nWo was fighting to keep their foothold on the company. It still wouldn't have been great, but it would've been something.

The Bischoff suspension happened on March 3, two weeks before Uncensored.

That whole angle made no sense because it was also said Schiller/Turner could not ban Bischoff from appearing on TV for some reason, plus Bischoff's character was back to having the ability to make matches and fire people by fall 1998 with no mention of how he regained that power.  It was similar to 1999 WWF, where Vince and Shane McMahon supposedly won complete control of the company by beating Steve Austin at King of the Ring, then not long after that, they just ignored it and said Linda and Stephanie still owned 50%.

Did it? I could've sworn it was afterwards, but I admit my memory ain't great.

And yeah, the Bischoff/Schiller stuff was just as stupid, for those reasons. It was like they wanted to try and nerf the nWo's power, but didn't want to actually do anything to weaken them in the long-term, so instead, we had JJ Dillon suddenly being the on-screen commissioner, but the nWo still had power through Bischoff. And he was back in power way earlier than 98, I remember him making matches for one of the PPVs in late 97.

[BorneAgain]

This was a period where WCW was so hot and the roster so stacked that plenty of fans essentially ignored how little sense there was with certain angles or how little payoff various storylines actually had. Schiller and Bischoff was one, but Jarrett not really getting along with the Horsemen eventually just fizzled out into him feuding with Mongo, and even various teases of nWo dissention happened in the spring only just to be forgotten about.

[SirLucas]

Mar 27, 2022 20:09:31 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Mar 27, 2022 19:31:11 GMT -5 cjh said:

The Bischoff suspension happened on March 3, two weeks before Uncensored.

That whole angle made no sense because it was also said Schiller/Turner could not ban Bischoff from appearing on TV for some reason, plus Bischoff's character was back to having the ability to make matches and fire people by fall 1998 with no mention of how he regained that power.  It was similar to 1999 WWF, where Vince and Shane McMahon supposedly won complete control of the company by beating Steve Austin at King of the Ring, then not long after that, they just ignored it and said Linda and Stephanie still owned 50%.

Did it? I could've sworn it was afterwards, but I admit my memory ain't great.

And yeah, the Bischoff/Schiller stuff was just as stupid, for those reasons. It was like they wanted to try and nerf the nWo's power, but didn't want to actually do anything to weaken them in the long-term, so instead, we had JJ Dillon suddenly being the on-screen commissioner, but the nWo still had power through Bischoff. And he was back in power way earlier than 98, I remember him making matches for one of the PPVs in late 97.

I don't remember this at all. I do remember Bischoff coming back as a babyface at Slamboree 99 since Flair and Piper became drunk with power. 

[cjh]

Mar 27, 2022 20:09:31 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Mar 27, 2022 19:31:11 GMT -5 cjh said:

The Bischoff suspension happened on March 3, two weeks before Uncensored.

That whole angle made no sense because it was also said Schiller/Turner could not ban Bischoff from appearing on TV for some reason, plus Bischoff's character was back to having the ability to make matches and fire people by fall 1998 with no mention of how he regained that power.  It was similar to 1999 WWF, where Vince and Shane McMahon supposedly won complete control of the company by beating Steve Austin at King of the Ring, then not long after that, they just ignored it and said Linda and Stephanie still owned 50%.

Did it? I could've sworn it was afterwards, but I admit my memory ain't great.

And yeah, the Bischoff/Schiller stuff was just as stupid, for those reasons. It was like they wanted to try and nerf the nWo's power, but didn't want to actually do anything to weaken them in the long-term, so instead, we had JJ Dillon suddenly being the on-screen commissioner, but the nWo still had power through Bischoff. And he was back in power way earlier than 98, I remember him making matches for one of the PPVs in late 97.

Did he?  I was just remembering that period where Ric Flair was about to return and WCW started hammering home that Bischoff was the power hungry, evil boss.  There was an in-ring promo on Nitro around August 1998 with Bischoff and Hogan where Bischoff mentioned how he fired Vader and Johnny B. Badd from WCW.

[SirLucas]

Mar 27, 2022 20:32:03 GMT -5 cjh said:

Mar 27, 2022 20:09:31 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Did it? I could've sworn it was afterwards, but I admit my memory ain't great.

And yeah, the Bischoff/Schiller stuff was just as stupid, for those reasons. It was like they wanted to try and nerf the nWo's power, but didn't want to actually do anything to weaken them in the long-term, so instead, we had JJ Dillon suddenly being the on-screen commissioner, but the nWo still had power through Bischoff. And he was back in power way earlier than 98, I remember him making matches for one of the PPVs in late 97.

Did he?  I was just remembering that period where Ric Flair was about to return and WCW started hammering home that Bischoff was the power hungry, evil boss.  There was an in-ring promo on Nitro around August 1998 with Bischoff and Hogan where Bischoff mentioned how he fired Vader and Johnny B. Badd from WCW.

God...that period of time was so confusing to keep up with. Bischoff showed up as a babyface at Slamboree 99. Flair became the heel authority figure after Uncensored 99. I think that may have been a one-off appearance for Bischoff until the summer of 99. Summer of 99, right before Bischoff got shoot canned, he reprised his role as babyface announcer on Nitro. But I guess he somewhat still had kayfabe authority. I remember Eric refusing to let Hak wrestle until he put out the cigarette. 

[RI Richmark]

Mar 27, 2022 19:28:27 GMT -5 chronocross said:

At least they didn't go with the original Piper team for Uncensored, outside of John Tenta the other 2 guys were nobodies.

I remember a rumor that a pre debut Bill Goldberg was one of the people who tried out for Piper's team but I rewatched the segment and none of the guys looked like him. But one of the guys trying out was the future Luther Reigns, Kurt Angle's former bodyguard.

[RI Richmark]

Mar 27, 2022 18:44:48 GMT -5 SirLucas said:

Speaking of things that bugged me, I have not watched this PPV in its entirety since it aired, but was confused why Rick Steiner was taken out of the match. Was he legit injured? Did the nWo jump him in the back? I can't remember. If WCW was a man short, couldn't there have been anybody else willing to step up and help fight for WCW? I guess having WCW enter the match with only 3 guys instead of 4 is another example of the idiot plot in action.

Yeah the nWo took out Rick. I don't know why they couldn't get a replacement. Maybe Bischoff prevented it.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Mar 27, 2022 20:32:03 GMT -5 cjh said:

Mar 27, 2022 20:09:31 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Did it? I could've sworn it was afterwards, but I admit my memory ain't great.

And yeah, the Bischoff/Schiller stuff was just as stupid, for those reasons. It was like they wanted to try and nerf the nWo's power, but didn't want to actually do anything to weaken them in the long-term, so instead, we had JJ Dillon suddenly being the on-screen commissioner, but the nWo still had power through Bischoff. And he was back in power way earlier than 98, I remember him making matches for one of the PPVs in late 97.

Did he?  I was just remembering that period where Ric Flair was about to return and WCW started hammering home that Bischoff was the power hungry, evil boss.  There was an in-ring promo on Nitro around August 1998 with Bischoff and Hogan where Bischoff mentioned how he fired Vader and Johnny B. Badd from WCW.

I can't remember what show it was, it might have been the final Clash of the Champions, but I could've sworn Bischoff made Savage an honorary Tag Team Champion for the night. And I wanna say he was referred to as being back in power during the build up to Starrcade when he faced Larry Zbyszko.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Mar 27, 2022 20:38:09 GMT -5 SirLucas said:

Mar 27, 2022 20:32:03 GMT -5 cjh said:

Did he?  I was just remembering that period where Ric Flair was about to return and WCW started hammering home that Bischoff was the power hungry, evil boss.  There was an in-ring promo on Nitro around August 1998 with Bischoff and Hogan where Bischoff mentioned how he fired Vader and Johnny B. Badd from WCW.

God...that period of time was so confusing to keep up with. Bischoff showed up as a babyface at Slamboree 99. Flair became the heel authority figure after Uncensored 99. I think that may have been a one-off appearance for Bischoff until the summer of 99. Summer of 99, right before Bischoff got shoot canned, he reprised his role as babyface announcer on Nitro. But I guess he somewhat still had kayfabe authority. I remember Eric refusing to let Hak wrestle until he put out the cigarette. 

You're thinking the second time Bischoff was removed from power, when he lost to Flair the night after Starrcade 98.

However, you did help illustrate the point, which is that WCW was a hot mess dumpster fire lol

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Unless he was legit injured the whole Rick getting taken out backstage thing was weird. However during the NWO era they had such a hard on for the whole WCW being a man down going into team matches but yet for some reason deciding not to replace the fourth guy who wasn't available. They did the same thing for Wargames in both 96 and 97. It made the WCW faces look like such idiots. Just freakin pick someone. Anyone. WCW had like a hundred guys under contract at that point I'm sure they could've found someone. It made absolutely no sense in that no matter who you pick even if it's the biggest jobber on the roster you are going to have a better chance then trying to win 4 against 3. In this case I don't get why they didn't have DDP take Steiner's spot. I know they did the angle with Savage beating him down and Kimberly getting spraypainted but he could've came back out and tossed Macho to give the faces some hope instead of the NWO just dominating pretty much start to finish. Really the only face who didn't come off looking weak was Luger who got the big superman comeback at the end and took out three of the four NWO members before Hogan got a cheap pin on him after Rodman interfered and sprayed him in the eyes with spray paint which Sexy Lexy for whatever reason decided to sell by laying motionless on the mat and acting unconscious.

I thought the booking of the Giant in the match in particular was very questionable. They had him bat leadoff for Team WCW which was unexpected and kind of a cool surprise especially after the other two teams both had the predictable choices for who they selected to start (Benoit and Hall). Giant tosses Benoit and Hall around for a few minutes and then misses a splash in the corner and falls out for the first elimination. I get that it was done to stack the deck against WCW even more and make things seem even more hopeless for them but it really made Giant look like a big goof.

Also I can't even imagine how much of a trainwreck the match would've been if Piper's original team was in it. Tenta would've been fine but the other two guys I don't think were even wrestlers. At least I don't think they were. I'd never seen either of them before or since. I think one of them was Piper's real life bodyguard and I have no clue who the other guy was.

[Ryushinku]

Sting zipping down and beating up the nWo was a huge save after that main event. Otherwise it'd be a pretty forgotten PPV with yet another crap main event nWo victory.